The two great things which the Spirit of Christ in
the Old-Testament prophets testified beforehand were the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow, 1 Pet. i. 11. And that which Christ himself,
when he expounded Moses and all the prophets, showed to be the
drift and scope of them all was that Christ ought to suffer and
then to enter into his glory, Luke
xxiv. 26, 27. But nowhere in all the Old-Testament are
these two so plainly and fully prophesied of as here in this
chapter, out of which divers passages are quoted with application
to Christ in the New-Testament. This chapter is so replenished with
the unsearchable riches of Christ that it may be called rather the
gospel of the evangelist Isaiah than the prophecy of the prophet
Isaiah. We may observe here, I. The reproach of Christ's
sufferings—the meanness of his appearance, the greatness of his
grief, and the prejudices which many conceived in consequences
against his doctrine, ver.
1-3. II. The rolling away of this reproach, and the
stamping of immortal honour upon his sufferings, notwithstanding
the disgrace and ignominy of them, by four considerations:—1.
That therein he did his Father's will, ver. 4, 6, 10. 2. That thereby he made
atonement for the sin of man (ver. 4-6, 8, 11, 12), for it was
not for any sin of his own that he suffered, ver. 9. 3. That he bore his sufferings with
an invincible and exemplary, ver.
7. 4. That he should prosper in his undertaking, and his
sufferings should end in his immortal honour, ver. 10-12. By mixing faith with the
prophecy of this chapter we may improve our acquaintance with Jesus
Christ and him crucified, with Jesus Christ and him glorified,
dying for our sins and rising again for our justification.

The Humiliation of the
Messiah. (b. c. 706.)

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we
shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from
him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The prophet, in the close of the former
chapter, had foreseen and foretold the kind reception which the
gospel of Christ should find among the Gentiles, that nations and
their kings should bid it welcome, that those who had not seen him
should believe in him; and though they had not any prophecies among
them of gospel grace, which might raise their expectations, and
dispose them to entertain it, yet upon the first notice of it they
should give it its due weight and consideration. Now here he
foretels, with wonder, the unbelief of the Jews, notwithstanding
the previous notices they had of the coming of the Messiah in the
Old Testament and the opportunity they had of being personally
acquainted with him. Observe here,

I. The contempt they put upon the gospel of
Christ, v. 1. The
unbelief of the Jews in our Saviour's time is expressly said to be
the fulfilling of this word, John
xii. 38. And it is applied likewise to the little
success which the apostles' preaching met with among Jews and
Gentiles, Rom. x. 16. Note,
1. Of the many that hear the report of the gospel there are few,
very few, that believe it. It is reported openly and publicly, not
whispered in a corner, or confined to the schools, but proclaimed
to all; and it is so faithful a saying, and so well worthy of all
acceptation, that one would think it should be universally received
and believed. But it is quite otherwise; few believed the prophets
who spoke before of Christ; when he came himself none of the rulers
nor of the Pharisees followed him, and but here and there one of
the common people; and, when the apostles carried this report all
the world over, some in every place believed, but comparatively
very few. To this day, of the many that profess to believe this
report, there are few that cordially embrace it and submit to the
power of it. 2. Therefore people believe not the report of
the gospel, because the arm of the Lord is not revealed to
them; they do not discern, nor will be brought to acknowledge, that
divine power which goes along with the word. The arm of the Lord
is made bare (as was said, ch. lii. 10) in the miracles that
were wrought to confirm Christ's doctrine, in the wonderful success
of it, and its energy upon the conscience; though it is a still
voice, it is a strong one; but they do not perceive this, nor do
they experience in themselves that working of the Spirit which
makes the word effectual. They believe not the gospel because, by
rebelling against the light they had, they had forfeited the grace
of God, which therefore he justly denied them and withheld from
them, and for want of that they believed not. 3. This is a thing we
ought to be much affected with; it is to be wondered at, and
greatly lamented, and ministers may go to God and complain of it to
him, as the prophet here. What a pity is it that such rich grace
should be received in vain, that precious souls should perish at
the pool's side, because they will not step in and be healed!

II. The contempt they put upon the person
of Christ because of the meanness of his appearance, v. 2, 3. This seems to come
in as a reason why they rejected his doctrine, because they were
prejudiced against his person. When he was on earth many that heard
him preach, and could not but approve of what they heard, would not
give it any regard or entertainment, because it came from one that
made so small a figure and had no external advantages to recommend
him. Observe here,

1. The low condition he submitted to, and
how he abased and emptied himself. The entry he made into the
world, and the character he wore in it, were no way agreeable to
the ideas which the Jews had formed of the Messiah and their
expectations concerning him, but quite the reverse. (1.) It was
expected that his extraction would be very great and noble. He was
to be the Son of David, of a family that had a name like to the
names of the great men that were in the earth, 2 Sam. vii. 9. But he sprang out of
this royal and illustrious family when it was reduced and sunk, and
Joseph, that son of David, who was his supposed father, was but a
poor carpenter, perhaps a ship-carpenter, for most of his relations
were fishermen. This is here meant by his being a root out of a
dry ground, his being born of a mean and despicable family, in
the north, in Galilee, of a family out of which, like a dry and
desert ground, nothing green, nothing great, was expected, in a
country of such small repute that it was thought no good thing
could come out of it. His mother, being a virgin, was as dry
ground, yet from her he sprang who is not only fruit, but
root. The seed on the stony ground had no root; but, though Christ
grew out of a dry ground, he is both the root and the offspring
of David, the root of the good olive. (2.) It was expected that
he should make a public entry, and come in pomp and with
observation; but, instead of that, he grew up before God, not
before men. God had his eye upon him, but men regarded him not:
He grew up as a tender plant, silently and insensibly, and
without any noise, as the corn, that tender plant, grows up, we
know not how, Mark iv.
27. Christ rose as a tender plant, which, one would have
thought, might easily be crushed, or might be nipped in one frosty
night. The gospel of Christ, in its beginning, was as a grain of
mustard-seed, so inconsiderable did it seem, Matt. xiii. 31, 32. (3.) It was expected
that he should have some uncommon beauty in his face and person,
which should charm the eye, attract the heart, and raise the
expectations of all that saw him. But there was nothing of this
kind in him; not that he was in the least deformed or misshapen,
but he had no form nor comeliness, nothing extraordinary,
which one might have thought to meet with in the countenance of an
incarnate deity. Those who saw him could not see that there was any
beauty in him that they should desire him, nothing in him more
than in another beloved, Cant. v.
9. Moses, when he was born, was exceedingly fair, to
such a degree that it was looked upon as a happy presage, Acts vii. 20; Heb. xi. 23.
David, when he was anointed, was of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to, 1 Sam. xvi.
12. But our Lord Jesus had nothing of that to recommend
him. Or it may refer not so much to his person as to the manner of
his appearing in the world, which had nothing in it of sensible
glory. His gospel is preached, not with the enticing words of
man's wisdom, but with all plainness, agreeable to the subject.
(4.) It was expected that he should live a pleasant life, and have
a full enjoyment of all the delights of the sons and daughters of
men, which would have invited all sorts to him; but, on the
contrary, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
It was not only his last scene that was tragical, but his whole
life was so, not only mean, but miserable,

————but one continued chain

Of labour, sorrow, and consuming pain.

Sir R. Blackmore.

Thus, being made sin for us, he
underwent the sentence sin had subjected us to, that we should
eat in sorrow all the days of our life (Gen. iii. 17), and thereby relaxed much of the
rigour and extremity of the sentence as to us. His condition was,
upon many accounts, sorrowful. He was unsettled, had not where to
lay his head, lived upon alms, was opposed and menaced, and
endured the contradiction of sinners against himself. His
spirit was tender, and he admitted the impressions of sorrow. We
never read that he laughed, but often that he wept. Lentulus, in
his epistle to the Roman senate concerning Jesus, says, "he was
never seen to laugh;" and so worn and macerated was he with
continual grief that when he was but a little above thirty years of
age he was taken to be nearly fifty, John viii. 57. Grief was his intimate
acquaintance; for he acquainted himself with the grievances of
others, and sympathized with them, and he never set his own at a
distance; for in his transfiguration he talked of his own decease,
and in his triumph he wept over Jerusalem. Let us look unto him and
mourn.

2. The low opinion that men had of him,
upon this account. Being generally apt to judge of persons and
things by the sight of the eye, and according to outward
appearance, they saw no beauty in him that they should desire him.
There was a great deal of true beauty in him, the beauty of
holiness and the beauty of goodness, enough to render him the
desire of all nations; but the far greater part of those among
whom he lived, and conversed, saw none of this beauty, for it was
spiritually discerned. Carnal hearts see no excellency in the Lord
Jesus, nothing that should induce them to desire an acquaintance
with him or interest in him. Nay, he is not only not desired, but
he is despised and rejected, abandoned and abhorred, a
reproach of men, an abject, one that men were shy of keeping
company with and had not any esteem for, a worm and no man. He was
despised as a mean man, rejected as a bad man. He was the stone
which the builders refused; they would not have him to reign over
them. Men, who should have had so much reason as to understand
things better, so much tenderness as not to trample upon a man in
misery—men whom he came to seek and save rejected him: "We hid
as it were our faces from him, looked another way, and his
sufferings were as nothing to us; though never sorrow was like
unto his sorrow. Nay, we not only behaved as having no concern
for him, but as loathing him, and having him in detestation." It
may be read, He hid as it were his face from us, concealed
the glory of his majesty, and drew a veil over it, and therefore
he was despised and we esteemed him not, because we could
not see through that veil. Christ having undertaken to make
satisfaction to the justice of God for the injury man had done him
in his honour by sin (and God cannot be injured except in his
honour), he did it not only by divesting himself of the glories due
to an incarnate deity, but by submitting himself to the disgraces
due to the worst of men and malefactors; and thus by vilifying
himself he glorified his Father: but this is a good reason why we
should esteem him highly, and study to do him honour; let
him be received by us whom men rejected.

The Humiliation of the
Messiah. (b. c. 706.)

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes
we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not
his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare
his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he
made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;
because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth.

In these verses we have,

I. A further account of the sufferings of
Christ. Much was said before, but more is said here, of the very
low condition to which he abased and humbled himself, to which he
became obedient even to the death of the cross. 1. He had griefs
and sorrows; being acquainted with them, he kept up the
acquaintance, and did not grow shy, no, not of such melancholy
acquaintance. Were griefs and sorrows allotted him? He bore them,
and blamed not his lot; he carried them, and did neither shrink
from them, nor sink under them. The load was heavy and the way
long, and yet he did not tire, but persevered to the end, till he
said, It is finished. 2. He had blows and bruises; he was
stricken, smitten, and afflicted. His sorrows bruised him;
he felt pain and smart from them; they touched him in the most
tender part, especially when God was dishonoured, and when he
forsook him upon the cross. All along he was smitten with the
tongue, when he was cavilled at and contradicted, put under the
worst of characters, and had all manner of evil said against him.
At last he was smitten with the hand, with blow after blow. 3. He
had wounds and stripes. He was scourged, not under the merciful
restriction of the Jewish law, which allowed not above forty
stripes to be given to the worst of male factors, but according to
the usage of the Romans. And his scourging, doubtless, was the more
severe because Pilate intended it as an equivalent for his
crucifixion, and yet it proved a preface to it. He was wounded in
his hands, and feet, and side. Though it was so ordered that not a
bone of him should be broken, yet he had scarcely in any part a
whole skin (how fond soever we are to sleep in one, even when we
are called out to suffer for him), but from the crown of his head,
which was crowned with thorns, to the soles of his feet, which were
nailed to the cross, nothing appeared but wounds and bruises. 4. He
was wronged and abused (v.
7): He was oppressed, injuriously treated and
hardly dealt with. That was laid to his charge which he was
perfectly innocent of, that laid upon him which he did not deserve,
and in both he was oppressed and injured. He was afflicted
both in mind and body; being oppressed, he laid it to heart, and,
though, he was patient, was not stupid under it, but mingled his
tears with those of the oppressed, that have no comforter, because
on the side of the oppressors there is power, Eccl. iv. 1. Oppression is a sore
affliction; it has made many a wise man mad (Eccl. vii. 7); but our Lord Jesus, though, when
he was oppressed, he was afflicted, kept possession of his own
soul. 5. He was judged and imprisoned, as is implied in his being
taken from prison and judgment, v. 8. God having made him sin for us,
he was proceeded against as a malefactor; he was apprehended and
taken into custody, and made a prisoner; he was judge, accused,
tried, and condemned, according to the usual forms of law: God
filed a process against him, judged him in pursuance of that
process, and confined him in the prison of the grave, at the door
of which a stone was rolled and sealed. 6. He was cut off by
an untimely death from the land of the living, though he
lived a most useful life, did so many good works, and they were all
such that one would be apt to think it was for some of them that
they stoned him. He was stricken to death, to the grave which he
made with the wicked (for he was crucified between two
thieves, as if he had been the worst of the three) and yet with
the rich, for he was buried in a sepulchre that belonged to
Joseph, an honourable counsellor. Though he died with the wicked,
and according to the common course of dealing with criminals should
have been buried with them in the place where he was crucified, yet
God here foretold, and Providence so ordered it, that he should
make his grave with the innocent, with the rich, as a mark of
distinction put between him and those that really deserved to die,
even in his sufferings.

II. A full account of the meaning of his
sufferings. It was a very great mystery that so excellent a person
should suffer such hard things; and it is natural to ask with
amazement, "How came it about? What evil had he done?" His enemies
indeed looked upon him as suffering justly for his crimes; and,
though they could lay nothing to his charge, they esteemed him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, v. 4. Because they hated him, and
persecuted him, they thought that God did, that he was his enemy
and fought against him; and therefore they were the more enraged
against him, saying, God has forsaken him; persecute and take
him, Ps. lxxi. 11.
Those that are justly smitten are smitten of God, for by him
princes decree justice; and so they looked upon him to be smitten,
justly put to death as a blasphemer, a deceiver, and an enemy to
Cæsar. Those that saw him hanging on the cross enquired not into
the merits of his cause, but took it for granted that he was guilty
of every thing laid to his charge and that therefore vengeance
suffered him not to live. Thus Job's friends esteemed him smitten
of God, because there was something uncommon in his sufferings. It
is true he was smitten of God, v. 10 (or, as some read it, he was
God's smitten and afflicted, the Son of God, though smitten and
afflicted), but not in the sense in which they meant it; for,
though he suffered all these things,

1. He never did any thing in the least to
deserve this hard usage. Whereas he was charged with perverting the
nation, and sowing sedition, it was utterly false; he had done
no violence, but went about doing good. And, whereas he was
called that deceiver, he never deserved that character; for
there was no deceit in his mouth (v. 9), to which the apostle refers,
1 Pet. ii. 22. He did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He never offended
either in word or deed, nor could any of his enemies take up that
challenge of his, Which of you convinceth me of sin? The
judge that condemned owned he found no fault in him, and the
centurion that executed him professed that certainly he was a
righteous man.

2. He conducted himself under his
sufferings so as to make it appear that he did not suffer as an
evil-doer; for, though he was oppressed and afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth (v. 7), no, not so much as to plead his
own innocency, but freely offered himself to suffer and die for us,
and objected nothing against it. This takes away the scandal of the
cross, that he voluntarily submitted to it, for great and holy
ends. By his wisdom he could have evaded the sentence, and by his
power have resisted the execution; but thus it was written, and
thus it behoved him to suffer. This commandment he received from
his Father, and therefore he was led as a lamb to the
slaughter, without any difficulty or reluctance (he is the
Lamb of God); and as a sheep is dumb before the
shearers, nay, before the butchers, so he opened not his
mouth, which denotes not only his exemplary patience under
affliction (Ps. xxxix. 9),
and his meekness under reproach (Ps.
xxxviii. 13), but his cheerful compliance with his
Father's will. Not my will, but thine be done. Lo, I come.
By this will we are sanctified, his making his own soul, his own
life, an offering for our sin.

3. It was for our good, and in our stead,
that Jesus Christ suffered. This is asserted here plainly and
fully, and in a very great variety of emphatical expressions.

(1.) It is certain that we are all guilty
before God. We have all sinned, and have come short of the glory of
God (v. 6): All
we like sheep have gone astray, one as well as another. The
whole race of mankind lies under the stain of original corruption,
and every particular person stands charged with many actual
transgressions. We have all gone astray from God our rightful
owner, alienated ourselves from him, from the ends he designed us
to move towards and the way he appointed us to move in. We have
gone astray like sheep, which are apt to wander, and are unapt,
when they have gone astray, to find the way home again. That is our
true character; we are bent to backslide from God, but altogether
unable of ourselves to return to him, and you can find
more about that here on
st-takla.org on other commentaries and
dictionary entries. This is mentioned not only as
our infelicity (that we go astray from the green pastures and
expose ourselves to the beasts of prey), but as our iniquity. We
affront God in going astray from him, for we turn aside every one
to his own way, and thereby set up ourselves, and our own will, in
competition with God and his will, which is the malignity of sin.
Instead of walking obediently in God's way, we have turned wilfully
and stubbornly to our own way, the way of our own heart, the way
that our own corrupt appetites and passions lead us to. We have set
up for ourselves, to be our own masters, our own carvers, to do
what we will and have what we will. Some think it intimates our own
evil way, in distinction from the evil way of others. Sinners have
their own iniquity, their beloved sin, which does most easily beset
them, their own evil way, that they are particularly fond of and
bless themselves in.

(2.) Our sins are our sorrows and our
griefs (v. 4), or,
as it may be read, our sicknesses and our wounds: the LXX.
reads it, our sins; and so the apostle, 1 Pet. ii. 24. Our original corruptions are
the sickness and disease of the soul, an habitual indisposition;
our actual transgressions are the wounds of the soul, which put
conscience to pain, if it be not seared and senseless. Or our sins
are called our griefs and sorrows because all our griefs and
sorrows are owing to our sins and our sins deserve all our griefs
and sorrows, even those that are most extreme and everlasting.

(3.) Our Lord Jesus was appointed and did
undertake to make satisfaction for our sins and so to save us from
the penal consequences of them. [1.] He was appointed to do it, by
the will of his Father; for the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. God chose him to be the Saviour of poor
sinners and would have him to save them in this way, by bearing
their sins and the punishment of them; not the idem—the
same that we should have suffered, but the
tantundem—that which was more than equivalent for the
maintaining of the honour of the holiness and justice of God in the
government of the world. Observe here, First, In what way we
are saved from the ruin to which by sin we had become liable—by
laying our sins on Christ, as the sins of the offerer were laid
upon the sacrifice and those of all Israel upon the head of the
scape-goat. Our sins were made to meet upon him (so the
margin reads it); the sins of all that he was to save, from every
place and every age, met upon him, and he was met with for them.
They were made to fall upon him (so some read it) as those rushed
upon him that came with swords and staves to take him. The laying
of our sins upon Christ implies the taking of them off from us; we
shall not fall under the curse of the law if we submit to the grace
of the gospel. They were laid upon Christ when he was made
sin (that is, a sin-offering) for us, and redeemed us
from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us; thus
he put himself into a capacity to make those easy that come to him
heavily laden under the burden of sin. See Ps. xl. 6-12. Secondly, By whom this
was appointed. It was the Lord that laid our iniquities on Christ;
he contrived this way of reconciliation and salvation, and he
accepted of the vicarious satisfaction Christ was to make. Christ
was delivered to death by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. None but God had power to lay our sins
upon Christ, both because the sin was committed against him and to
him the satisfaction was to be made, and because Christ, on whom
the iniquity was to be laid, was his own Son, the Son of his love,
and his holy child Jesus, who himself knew no sin. Thirdly,
For whom this atonement was to be made. It was the iniquity of
us all that was laid on Christ; for in Christ there is a
sufficiency of merit for the salvation of all, and a serious offer
made of that salvation to all, which excludes none that do not
exclude themselves. It intimates that this is the one only way of
salvation. All that are justified are justified by having their
sins laid on Jesus Christ, and, though they were ever so many, he
is able to bear the weight of them all. [2.] He undertook to do it.
God laid upon him our iniquity; but did he consent to it? Yes, he
did; for some think that the true reading of the next words
(v. 7) is, It was
exacted, and he answered; divine justice demanded satisfaction
for our sins, and he engaged to make the satisfaction. He became
our surety, not as originally bound with us, but as bail to the
action: "Upon me be the curse, my Father." And therefore, when he
was seized, he stipulated with those into whose hands he
surrendered himself that that should be his disciples' discharge:
If you seek me, let these go their way, John xviii. 8. By his own voluntary
undertaking he made himself responsible for our debt, and it is
well for us that he was responsible. Thus he restored that which
he took not away.

(4.) Having undertaken our debt, he
underwent the penalty. Solomon says: He that is surety for a
stranger shall smart for it. Christ, being surety for us, did
smart for it. [1.] He bore our griefs and carried our
sorrows, v. 4.
He not only submitted to the common infirmities of human nature,
and the common calamities of human life, which sin had introduced,
but he underwent the extremities of grief, when he said, My soul
is exceedingly sorrowful. He made the sorrows of this present
time heavy to himself, that he might make them light and easy for
us. Sin is the wormwood and the fall in the affliction and the
misery. Christ bore our sins, and so bore our griefs, bore
them off us, that we should never be pressed above measure. This is
quoted (Matt. viii. 17) with
application to the compassion Christ had for the sick that came to
him to be cured and the power he put forth to cure them. [2.] He
did this by suffering for our sins (v. 5): He was wounded for our
transgressions, to make atonement for them and to purchase for
us the pardon of them. Our sins were the thorns in his head, the
nails in his hands and feet, the spear in his side. Wounds and
bruises were the consequences of sin, what we deserved and what we
had brought upon ourselves, ch.
i. 6. That these wounds and bruises, though they are
painful, may not be mortal, Christ was wounded for our
transgressions, was tormented or pained (the word is used for
the pains of a woman in travail) for our revolts and rebellions.
He was bruised, or crushed, for our iniquities; they
were the procuring cause of his death. To the same purport is
v. 8, for the
transgression of my people was he smitten, the stroke was
upon him that should have been upon us; and so some read it,
He was cut off for the iniquity of my people, unto whom the
stroke belonged, or was due. He was delivered to death
for our offences, Rom. iv.
25. Hence it is said to be according to the
scriptures, according to this scripture, that Christ died
for our sins, 1 Cor. xv.
3. Some read this, by the transgressions of my
people; that is, by the wicked hands of the Jews, who were, in
profession, God's people, he was stricken, was crucified and slain,
Acts ii. 23. But, doubtless,
we are to take it in the former sense, which is abundantly
confirmed by the angel's prediction of the Messiah's undertaking,
solemnly delivered to Daniel, that he shall finish
transgression, make an end of sin, and make reconciliation for
iniquity, Dan. ix.
24.

(5.) The consequence of this to us is our
peace and healing, v.
5. [1.] Hereby we have peace: The chastisement of our
peace was upon him; he, by submitting to these chastisements,
slew the enmity, and settled an amity, between God and man; he
made peace by the blood of his cross. Whereas by sin we had
become odious to God's holiness and obnoxious to his justice,
through Christ God is reconciled to us, and not only forgives our
sins and saves us from ruin, but takes us into friendship and
fellowship with himself, and thereby peace (that is, all
good) comes unto us, Col. i.
20. He is our peace, Eph. ii. 14. Christ was in pain that we might
be at ease; he gave satisfaction to the justice of God that we
might have satisfaction in our own minds, might be of good cheer,
knowing that through him our sins are forgiven us. [2.] Hereby we
have healing; for by his stripes we are healed. Sin is not
only a crime, for which we were condemned to die and which Christ
purchased for us the pardon of, but it is a disease, which tends
directly to the death of our souls and which Christ provided for
the cure of. By his stripes (that is, the sufferings he underwent)
he purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God to mortify our
corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls, and to put our
souls in a good state of health, that they may be fit to serve God
and prepared to enjoy him. And by the doctrine of Christ's cross,
and the powerful arguments it furnishes us with against sin, the
dominion of sin is broken in us and we are fortified against that
which feeds the disease.

(6.) The consequence of this to Christ was
his resurrection and advancement to perpetual honour. This makes
the offence of the cross perfectly to cease; he yielded himself to
die as a sacrifice, as a lamb, and, to make it evident that the
sacrifice he offered of himself was accepted, we are told here,
v. 8, [1.] That he
was discharged: He was taken from prison and from judgment;
whereas he was imprisoned in the grave under a judicial process,
lay there under an arrest for our debt, and judgment seemed to be
given against him, he was by an express order from heaven taken out
of the prison of the grave, an angel was sent on purpose to roll
away the stone and set him at liberty, by which the judgment given
against him was reversed and taken off; this redounds not only to
his honour, but to our comfort; for, being delivered for our
offences, he was raised again for our justification.
That discharge of the bail amounted to a release of the debt. [2.]
That he was preferred: Who shall declare his generation? his
age, or continuance (so the word signifies), the time
of his life? He rose to die no more; death had no more dominion
over him. He that was dead is alive, and lives for
evermore; and who can describe that immortality to which he
rose, or number the years and ages of it? And he is advanced to
this eternal life because for the transgression of his people he
became obedient to death. We may take it as denoting the time of
his usefulness, as David is said to serve his generation,
and so to answer the end of living. Who can declare how great a
blessing Christ by his death and resurrection will be to the world?
Some by his generation understand his spiritual seed: Who
can count the vast numbers of converts that shall by the gospel be
begotten to him, like the dew of the morning?

When thus exalted he shall live to see

A numberless believing progeny

Of his adopted sons; the godlike race

Exceed the stars that heav'n's high arches grace.

Sir R. Blackmore.

Of this generation of his let us pray, as
Moses did for Israel, The Lord God of our fathers make them a
thousand times so many more as they are, and bless them as he has
promised them, Deut. i.
11.

The Exaltation of the Messiah; The Triumph
of the Messiah. (b. c. 706.)

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall
see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul,
and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he
shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out
his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors;
and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.

In the foregoing verses the prophet had testified
very particularly of the sufferings of Christ, yet mixing some
hints of the happy issue of them; here he again mentions his
sufferings, but largely foretels the glory that should follow. We
may observe, in these verses,

I. The services and sufferings of Christ's
state of humiliation. Come, and see how he loved us, see what he
did for us.

1. He submitted to the frowns of Heaven
(v. 10): Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him, to put him to pain, or torment,
or grief. The scripture nowhere says that Christ is his
sufferings underwent the wrath of God; but it says here, (1.) That
the Lord bruised him, not only permitted men to bruise him, but
awakened his own sword against him, Zech. xiii. 7. They esteemed him smitten of
God for some very great sin of his own (v. 4); now it was true that he was
smitten of God, but it was for our sin; the Lord bruised him, for
he did not spare him, but delivered him up for us all,
Rom. viii. 32. He it was
that put the bitter cup into his hand, and obliged him to drink it
(John xviii. 11), having
laid upon him our iniquity. He it was that made him sin and a curse
for us, and turned to ashes all his burnt-offering, in token of the
acceptance of it, Ps. xx. 3.
(2.) That he bruised him so as to put him to grief. Christ
accommodated himself to this dispensation, and received the
impressions of grief from his Father's delivering him up; and he
was troubled to such a degree that it put him into an agony, and he
began to be amazed and very heavy. (3.) It pleased the Lord to do
this. He determined to do it; it was the result of an eternal
counsel; and he delighted in it, as it was an effectual method for
the salvation of man and the securing and advancing of the honour
of God.

2. He substituted himself in the room of
sinners, as a sacrifice. He made his soul an offering for
sin; he himself explains this (Matt. xx. 28), that he came to give his
life a ransom for many. When men brought bulls and goats as
sacrifices for sin they made them offerings, for they had an
interest in them, God having put them under the feet of man. But
Christ made himself an offering; it was his own act and deed. We
could not put him in our stead, but he put himself, and said,
Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, in a higher sense
than David said, or could say it. "Father, I commit my soul to
thee, I deposit it in thy hands, as the life of a sacrifice and
the price of pardons." Thus he shall bear the iniquities of the
many that he designed to justify (v. 11), shall take away the sin of
the world by taking it upon himself, John i. 29. This mentioned again (v. 12): He bore the sin of
many, who, if they had borne it themselves, would have been
sunk by it to the lowest hell. See how this dwelt upon; for,
whenever we think of the sufferings of Christ, we must see him in
them bearing our sin.

3. He subjected himself to that which to us
is the wages of sin (v.
12): He has poured out his soul unto death,
poured it out as water, so little account did he make of it, when
the laying of it down was the appointed means of our redemption and
salvation. He loved not his life unto the death, and his
followers, the martyrs, did likewise, Rev. xii. 11. Or, rather, he poured it out as
a drink-offering, to make his sacrifice complete, poured it out as
wine, that his blood might be drink indeed, as his flesh is meat
indeed to all believers. There was not only a colliquation of his
body in his sufferings (Ps. xxii.
14, I am poured out like water), but a surrender
of his spirit; he poured out that, even unto death, though he is
the Lord of life.

4. He suffered himself to be ranked with
sinners, and yet offered himself to be an intercessor for sinners,
v. 12. (1.) It was
a great aggravation of his sufferings that he was numbered with
transgressors, that he was not only condemned as a malefactor,
but executed in company with two notorious malefactors, and he in
the midst, as if he had been the worst of the three, in which
circumstance of his suffering, the evangelist tells us, this
prophecy was fulfilled, Mark xv.
27, 28. Nay, the vilest malefactor of all, Barabbas, who
was a traitor, a thief, and a murderer, was put in election with
him for the favour of the people, and carried it; for they would
not have Jesus released, but Barabbas. In his whole life he was
numbered among the transgressors; for he was called and accounted a
sabbath-breaker, a drunkard, and a friend to publicans and sinners.
(2.) It was a great commendation of his sufferings, and redounded
very much to his honour, that in his sufferings he made
intercession for the transgressors, for those that reviled and
crucified him; for he prayed, Father, forgive them, thereby
showing, not only that he forgave them, but that he was now doing
that upon which their forgiveness, and the forgiveness of all other
transgressors, were to be founded. That prayer was the language of
his blood, crying, not for vengeance, but for mercy, and therein it
speaks better things than that of Abel, even for those who with
wicked hands shed it.

II. The grace and glories of his state of
exaltation; and the graces he confers on us are not the least of
the glories conferred on him. These are secured to him by the
covenant of redemption, which these verses give us some idea of. He
promises to make his soul an offering for sin, consents that the
Father shall deliver him up, and undertakes to bear the sin of
many, in consideration of which the Father promises to glorify him,
not only with the glory he had, as God, before the world was
(John xvii. 5), but with
the glories of the Mediator.

1. He shall have the glory of an
everlasting Father. Under this title he was brought into the
world (ch. ix.
6), and he shall not fail to answer the title when he
goes out of the world. This was the promise made to Abraham (who
herein was a type of Christ), that he should be the father of
many nations and so be the heir of the world, Rom. iv. 13, 17. As he was the root
of the Jewish church, and the covenant was made with him and his
seed, so is Christ of the universal church and with him and his
spiritual seed is the covenant of grace made, which is grounded
upon and grafted in the covenant of redemption, which here we have
some of the glorious promises of. It is promised,

(1.) That the Redeemer shall have a seed to
serve him and to bear up his name, Ps.
xxii. 30. True believers are the seed of Christ; the
Father gave them to him to be so, John
xvii. 6. He died to purchase and purify them to himself,
fell to the ground as a corn of wheat, that he might bring forth
much fruit, John xii.
24. The word, that incorruptible see, of which they are
born again, is his word; the Spirit, the great author of their
regeneration, is his Spirit; and it is his image that is impressed
upon them.

(2.) That he shall live to see his seed.
Christ's children have a living Father, and because he lives they
shall live also, for he is their life. Though he died, he rose
again, and left not his children orphans, but took effectual care
to secure to them the spirit, the blessing, and the inheritance of
sons. He shall see a great increase of them; the word is plural,
He shall see his seeds, multitudes of them, so many that
they cannot be numbered.

(3.) That he shall himself continue to take
care of the affairs of this numerous family: He shall prolong
his days. Many, when they see their seed, their seed's seed,
wish to depart in peace; but Christ will not commit the care of his
family to any other, no, he shall himself live long, and of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, for
he ever lives. Some refer it to believers: He shall see a seed
that shall prolong its days, agreeing with Ps. lxxxix. 29, 36, His seed shall
endure for ever. While the world stands Christ will have a
church in it, which he himself will be the life of.

(4.) That his great undertaking shall be
successful and shall answer expectation: The pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand. God's purposes shall take
effect, and not one iota or tittle of them shall fail. Note, [1.]
The work of man's redemption is in the hands of the Lord Jesus, and
it is in good hands. It is well for us that it is in his, for our
own hands are not sufficient for us, but he is able to save to the
uttermost. It is in his hands who upholds all things. [2.] It is
the good pleasure of the Lord, which denotes not only his counsel
concerning it, but his complacency in it; and therefore God
loved him, and was well pleased in him, because he undertook to lay
down his life for the sheep. [3.] It has prospered hitherto, and
shall prosper, whatever obstructions or difficulties have been, or
may be, in the way of it. Whatever is undertaken according to God's
pleasure shall prosper, ch.
xlvi. 10. Cyrus, a type of Christ, shall perform all
God's pleasure (ch. xliv.
28), and therefore, no doubt, Christ shall. Christ was
so perfectly well qualified for his undertaking, and prosecuted it
with so much vigour, and it was from first to last so well devised,
that it could not fail to prosper, to the honour of his Father and
the salvation of all his seed.

(5.) That he shall himself have abundant
satisfaction in it (v.
11): He shall see of the travail of his soul, and
shall be satisfied. He shall see it beforehand (so it may be
understood); he shall with the prospect of his sufferings have a
prospect of the fruit, and he shall be satisfied with the bargain.
He shall see it when it is accomplished in the conversion and
salvation of poor sinners. Note, [1.] Our Lord Jesus was in travail
of soul for our redemption and salvation, in great pain, but with
longing desire to be delivered, and all the pains and throes he
underwent were in order to it and hastened it on. [2.] Christ does
and will see the blessed fruit of the travail of his soul in the
founding and building up of his church and the eternal salvation of
all that were given him. He will not come short of his end in any
part of his work, but will himself see that he has not laboured in
vain. [3.] The salvation of souls is a great satisfaction to the
Lord Jesus. He will reckon all his pains well bestowed, and himself
abundantly recompensed, if the many sons be by him brought through
grace to glory. Let him have this, and he has enough. God will be
glorified, penitent believers will be justified, and then Christ
will be satisfied. Thus, in conformity to Christ, it should be a
satisfaction to us if we can do any thing to serve the interests of
God's kingdom in the world. Let it always be our meat and drink, as
it was Christ's, to do God's will.

2. He shall have the glory of bringing in
an everlasting righteousness; for so it was foretold concerning
him, Dan. ix. 24. And here,
to the same purport, By his knowledge (the knowledge of him,
and faith in him) shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear the sins of many, and so lay a foundation for our
justification from sin. Note, (1.) The great privilege that flows
to us from the death of Christ is justification from sin, our being
acquitted from that guilt which alone can ruin us, and accepted
into God's favour, which alone can make us happy. (2.) Christ, who
purchased our justification for us, applies it to us, by his
intercession made for us, his gospel preached to us, and his Spirit
witnessing in us. The Son of man had power even on earth to forgive
sin. (3.) There are many whom Christ justifies, not all (multitudes
perish in their sins), yet many, even as many as he gave his life a
ransom for, as many as the Lord our God shall call. He shall
justify not here and there one that is eminent and remarkable, but
those of the many, the despised multitude. (4.) It is by faith that
we are justified, by our consent to Christ and the covenant of
grace; in this way we are saved, because thus God is most
glorified, free grace most advanced, self most abased, and our
happiness most effectually secured. (5.) Faith is the knowledge of
Christ, and without knowledge there can be no true faith. Christ's
way of gaining the will and affections is by enlightening the
understanding and bringing that unfeignedly to assent to divine
truths. (6.) That knowledge of Christ, and that faith in him, by
which we are justified, have reference to him both as a servant to
God and as a surety for us. [1.] As one that is employed for God to
pursue his designs and secure and advance the interests of his
glory. "He is my righteous servant, and as such justifies men." God
has authorized and appointed him to do it; it is according to God's
will and for his honour that he does it. He is himself righteous,
and of his righteousness have all we received. He that is himself
righteous (for he could not have made atonement for our sin if he
had had any sin of his own to answer for) is made of God to us
righteousness, the Lord our righteousness. [2.] As one that has
undertaken for us. We must know him, and believe in him, as one
that bore our iniquities—saved us from sinking under the load by
taking it upon himself.

3. He shall have the glory of obtaining an
incontestable victory and universal dominion, v. 12. Because he has done all these
good services, therefore will I divide him a portion with the
great, and, according to the will of the Father, he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, as a great general, when he
has driven the enemy out of the field, takes the plunder of it for
himself and his army, which is both an unquestionable evidence of
the victory and a recompense for all the toils and perils of the
battle, and you can find
more about that here on
st-takla.org on other commentaries and
dictionary entries. Note, (1.) God the Father has engaged to reward the
services and sufferings of Christ with great glory: "I will set him
among the great, highly exalt him, and give him a name above every
name." Great riches are also assigned to him: He shall divide
the spoil, shall have abundance of graces and comforts to
bestow upon all his faithful soldiers. (2.) Christ comes at his
glory by conquest. He has set upon the strong man armed,
dispossessed him, and divided the spoil. He has vanquished
principalities and powers, sin and Satan, death and hell, the world
and the flesh; these are the strong that he has disarmed and taken
the spoil of. (3.) Much of the glory with which Christ is
recompensed, and the spoil which he has divided, consists in the
vast multitudes of willing, faithful, loyal subjects, that shall be
brought in to him; for so some read it: I will give many to him,
and he shall obtain many for a spoil. God will give him the
heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for his possession, Ps. ii.
8. His dominion shall be from sea to sea. Many
shall be wrought upon by the grace of God to give up themselves to
him to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him, and hereby he shall
reckon himself honoured, and enriched, and abundantly recompensed
for all he did and all he suffered. (4.) What God designed for the
Redeemer he shall certainly gain the possession of: "I will divide
it to him," and immediately it follows, He shall divide it,
notwithstanding the opposition that is given to him; for, as Christ
finished the work that was given him to do, so God completed the
recompence that was promised him for it; for he is both able and
faithful. (5.) The spoil which God divided to Christ he divides (it
is the same word), he distributes, among his followers; for, when
he led captivity captive, he received gifts for men, that he
might give gifts to men; for as he has told us (Acts xx. 35) he did himself reckon it more
blessed and honourable to give than to receive. Christ conquered
for us, and through him we are more than conquerors. He has divided
the spoils, the fruits of his conquest, to all that are his: let us
therefore cast in our lot among them.